


First Steps

by Schattenfeuer



Series: Imaginaerum [2]
Category: Nightmare Harem (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Gen, Other, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25787122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schattenfeuer/pseuds/Schattenfeuer
Summary: This was not the first time Lucas meet a Seeker. But it never gets easier.
Series: Imaginaerum [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1870483





	First Steps

“Another one? So soon?”, he couldn’t help the heart clenching feeling spreading slowly in his chest. So it had been that time again, he barely kept track of the times by now, they all bled into each other, creating one large, deep swamp that tried to suck him under every time he dared to enter it. He could remember the first one, the one that had started this all, still feel the grasp of her frail hand around his own as she had pulled him down with surprising strength, she had smiled that particular smile that always spelled trouble for him, the one that pulled her age wrinkled lips taunt and narrow like a piano wire. Back then, he had been so young, so naive, when she asked him to keep her creation save, to protect the balance within her world-out-of-dreams, her imaginaerum. “And so young too.”

“Leave. Your presence is unnecessary.” and of course this newcomer had come with her personal guard dog, her six winged and three eyed prison guard, this living chain that would bind her to her fate and early grave. The humans dragged across the border between the worlds, so he had noticed, had grown younger each time this happened. This particular seeker happened to take the shape of a young man, he blocked the entrance to the human’s room and glared daggers at Lucas, red eyes ablaze with raw hatred and disdain for the personification of Nightmare’s will. Even now, semi translucent and still weakened from the transition between worlds, the seeker radiated power in icy, dark waves, he bared fangs at Lucas like a feral beast, had his hands been given proper, physical shape, his claws would have left nasty scratches deep in the wall. “She just arrived and will not be disturbed by anyone.”

Lucas couldn’t help but smile sagely at the Seeker’s frothing rage and blind loyalty to whoever had unfortunately caught his eyes. Yet another one, another life destroyed and used for the sole purpose of prolonging this corpse’s flickering pulse with a dose of fresh blood. In a way, he felt pity for both the Seeker and the girl. From what short glimpse he caught of her during their short conversation before, she looked tired already, as if Nightmare had been feeding off her for decades and not mere hours. Reclining on his seat upon the balcony rail, Lucas took a long time to muse over the right words, to think and form the sentence in a way that would not sent the Seeker over the edge into a frenzy of jealous rage.

“What is her name? How long do you expect her to last?”, talking about a human’s life like it was a mere commodity left a foul taste on his tongue, like moldy fruits washed down with muddy river water. Watching the Seeker’s reaction closely, he couldn’t help but notice that this one resembled an angel’s appearance, not just the wings, those were just as much a sign of Seekers as the third eye sigil on their forehead. No, it was the paleness of his skin, the snowy white of his hair and the bright, angry red of his eyes. In the latter, Lucas could see the telltale silver halo of all Seekers mother, the moon. “You know that I was tasked with-”

“With upkeeping Nightmare’s balance, not getting hindering me in doing my duty!”, he wasn’t even phased when the Seeker hissed over him and cut him off. Lucas just felt exhaustion coming over him. Why was it always so difficult to deal with Seekers? Why were their personalities always so extreme and prone to turning unhinged at the slightest of provocations? “It’s Faye. And of course she is going to last long!”

“How long?”, a pretty name for a pretty girl, he supposed, if you could see past the lines of exhaustion etched into her dark skin and the mattness of her hair. Or the stark white contrast of the medical eyepatch, which now rested on her nightstand. She really must have been worn out to her bone’s marrow if she could sleep that deeply in a stranger’s estate, surrounded by what she had just learned were demons, representations of evil in her world. Sympathy washed over him, as well as nostalgia as he tried to find traces of Oltea in her features, it mixed with gut wrenching sadness when he found none. “A year? A decade?”

“Long enough.”, clearly wounded in his pride, the Seeker puffed his wings up, the speckled red on his white feathers called forth the mental image of blood splattered over a wedding gown, of innocence robbed and restless ghosts of the long dead. The Seeker’s entire shape flickered for a second, shattered like the air did in the heat of summer, before putting itself back together. “She’s from a better stock than the last one.”

“The last one...right…”, the last one...that one had been so messy, Lucas’ stomach twisted itself into tight knots whenever he thought about that particular dreamer’s short time as Nightmare’s cradle, especially the way it had all ended. “Well, Seeker. If my presence here is not required, then allow me to leave the stage. Just make sure you don’t repeat your predecessor’s mistake”

“I don’t make mistakes”, was it just him or could Lucas actually hear a miniscule ounce of shame in the Seeker’s voice? Either way, he chose not to linger to find out, shaking his head he allowed the magic flowing through his veins to flare up, to swallow him whole and take him. Where to? He did not knew. 

But any place was better than here.


End file.
